Looking to make a dumb Dwarf for society play. Really, really silly stats on this one:
Str 18 Dex 16 Con 16
Int 07 Wis 09 Cha 05
I might consider dropping Str to 17 and push Wis to 12, but that'll probably be that. I will have the racial alternate trait that lets you reroll failed saves against charm and compulsions and gives a +2 bonus against those.
Feats...
1 Two Weapon Fighting, Quick Draw
2 Power Attack
3 Improved Sunder
Sample equipment:
20 light hammers
2 Warhammers
2 Light Maces
1 Earthbreaker
1 Dwarven Longhammer (if it is a hammer)
At least to start. Combat tactics would be quickdrawing light hammers and chucking them at range. Quickdrawing a Warhammer and a light mace for close combat, an Earthbreaker for sundering, and perhaps a dwarven longhammer for some reach. A few questions:
How do I even carry all those things? Is there a weapon rack backpack thing in ultimate equipment or do weapons come with sheathes? I'm aiming to be comically overloaded in hammers and jangling everywhere I walk, potentially even using a different weapon for each hit just for giggles. I will have one or two decent magic weapons; the earthbreaker for sundering and the warhammer general use.
Also, Any guarantee the longhammer is actually a hammer? I can't find it in any current fighter group list. (That should really be spelled out in the weapon synopsis.)
Thanks for your advice. Feat selection down the road is welcome. I will probably bump Dex at some point for improved two weapon fighting.
For some odd reason, I really like them there dodecahedrons. I've got quite a collection. What would be the best method to roll as many of these as I can a round?
This prolly means: No small characters. Probably a full-babber. Two-handed weapon.
Weapons that let you roll d12s: Greataxe, Lucerne Hammer, Flying Blade, Musket
Weapons that are even more d12'd!: Double-barreled Musket, Double Hackbut
Any ideas? A keen Greataxe with multiple attacks is prolly the simplest method. Some crazy gunslingerness may be more effective at later levels.
The Roughrider is an interesting archetype. In some ways it seems to mandate multiclassing. (How else to get heavy armor prof for your mount? I suppose it doesn't really need proficiency if you aren't attacking with its natural attacks, but even so.) It gives a lot of mount protection and uses the mount as a vehicle to get you to the full attack, and eventually full attack spread out. Looks like it might be neat for a TWF build.
The Dragoon on the other hand pays hardly any heed at all to the mount, but certainly makes the lance your weapon of choice what with +2 damage instead of +1 for weapon training.
Either way I'll take at least 4 levels of Cavalier and the Horse Master feat for a full mount. Dragoon probably would take fewer levels of Fighter as the higher abilities aren't that interesting. The 15th level ability(ies) for the roughrider make for quite the 20th level capstone.
Q: Can I use Cleave while mounted during movement? That is, can I steer my mount into range, cleave or great cleave more than one creature, and then have my mount continue moving?
Q: Can I attack while my mount is moving as a part of a full round action, as with Spring Attack? Example: My mount uses spring attack. At the time I approach threatening range, I attack (or even cleave/vital strike) and then the mount continues as per normal.
Q: The rules don't mention anything about attacking and then moving. It's all about moving and then attacking. If I attack (or cleave or vital strike or other standard action) and THEN my mount does nothing but move, how much movement can I get my mount to do?
I'm building a Gnome Mysterious Stranger (1)/Sorcerer (6)/Eldritch Knight (to 10 if possible) as a back-up character. The concept I have is of a wealthy gentleman hunter with Bartholomew as his unspeaking manservant. Of course, his manservant is actually a spell effect (Unseen Servant, Reloading Hands, Pilfering Hands, etc.)
Gunslinging is fairly feat intensive, so most of the feats are probably going in that direction. If I have space I'd like to take Craft Arms and Armor. Otherwise, feats and levels look to be as follows:
Some handy tricks:
1. Reloading hands with a Culverin. Probably my favourite tactic. A 2nd level 30' cone of shrapnel.
2. Named Bullet and eventually its greater counterpart to obtain autocrits and regain grit.
3. Obscuring Mist (or other similar) with scatter weapons.
4. Flying while gunslinging is awesome.
5. Abundant Ammo to save money in early levels.
A few questions: What non-gunslinger spells should I take? Are there any firearm spells I should avoid? (Ricochet Shot is iffy; it seems as though it could cause misfire off the ricochet.)
And what bloodline should I go with? I'm restricted to hardcover books. I was hoping for a noble bloodline but the closet is the Human one out of ARG and I want to stick with Gnome. I'm thinking either Serpentine or Primal (of fire). For serpentine I'll take the gnome Magical Linguist route and get some bard-like face skills with Diplo as a class skill and Bluff boosted with a familiar. For Primal I'll get some very useful first and second level spells and I can focus my roleplay on the Splodies aspect of things and relishing fire damage. (And of course I'll have the fire based gnome magical race trait.)
A wizard, a cleric, a summoner, and a ninja walk into a dungeon...
If it sounds like the start of a joke, it is. It's not a very funny one. None of us can hit. Buffing all day can only do so much with limited resources. It really does help to have a full BAB fellow to iron things out.
That said, my cleric is very martial (and I'm swapping it to Oracle because I can't stands preparing spells no more!) and in theory SHOULD be able to hit, I don't (yet) have the full resources to pull that off.
While I am converting from a Cleric of Gorum to a Battle Oracle of Gorum (Wasting curse, full weapon and armor prof, weapon focuses in Greatsword, Diehard, Many initiative rolls) and I should be BETTER at taking the front line, it has yet to be seen.
One of the players has suggested that we have some sort of swappable characters. As in, at the start of the day at the time you may prepare spells, you also prepare character. So I could swap my Cleric come Oracle for, say, my Ranger or Cavalier.
It's an interesting idea, to be sure. I think it comes with more unintended consequences than we see at the moment.
In terms of advice, has anyone done something like this before? If we didn't need healing so damn badly I wouldn't have been a bloody cleric in the first place and would stick with my usual Full BAB. Oracle seems a compromise, but it is still a compromise. Has anyone used these backup characters before?
I've been looking for this in searches, but other more niche questions keep coming up.
Can you use Spring Attack while mounted? The (vague) mounted combat rules state "You move at its (the mount's) speed, but the mount uses its action to move."
This leads me to believe that if I am mounted and I have the SA feat, even if my mount doesn't, I can spring attack as a full round action.
So I had previously looked at making a tactician fighter based arund an old soldier who would tell tales of heroism, perhaps true perhaps not. The crunch of the feats made him a twf shield basher with ray shield and step up and other anticaster feats.
Well the party thats frming lks t be heavy on the hitters and light on the buffs, and the concept works with arcane duelist, so why not give it a shot?
I want to keep ray shield for 11th, but what fighting style to use? Twf or just the shield and a one handed weapn? I will be doing a lt of up frnt anti caster wrk, so step up is a good idea. Given i wont have a free hand for them, material compnents in combat are no good. I will be at least middle aged.
I'll come back later and post more ideas when I have a keyboard proper with a working O.
Hello, I have an urban campaign coming up and am trying to build a character for it. I'm thinking of mixing a Monk (Master of Many Styles and Monk of the Sacred Mountain) with the Urban Ranger and using style feats to make a TWFish Grapplingish combatant. Dwarf as the race, because Dwarves are cool.
Unless I'm reading things wrong, Dragon style would let me make my unarmed strikes as 1.5 times strength bonus, so if I fight with a Warhammer in one hand and a fist in the other, I'll deal 1d8 + Strength with the hammer and 1d6 + 1.5 times Strength for the other once I pick up TWF at 4th. I will also be able to grapple as an immediate action when I'm missed in combat, which is also very cool.
I'm not the most experienced player, so I'm fairly sure I've done something wrong here. I'm also not entirely sure whether or not I should wear armor (perhaps armorless at early levels and donning it when enhancements outclass wisdom), what I should do for an animal companion if any, or any other things I'm probably missing. Suggestions welcome.
For a long time, I've wanted to do something neat with a basic familiar. (That is, not taking the Improved Familiar feat.) I have always loved the classic tropes of wizards and witches with bonded animals to enhance their ability, though it needn't be limited to those classes.
One of the things I've come up with would be a Gnome or Halfling with a pig or goat as a familiar using reduce person and a Lance. (Or enlarge person on the familiar if spell sharing works that way.)
I read somewhere about the Half-Elf barbarian with a grappling Ferret. That sounded neat too.
But even then, having never used a familiar, I hardly know what they're capable of. Witches are probably not the best to use as they cannot risk their familiar to much. I rather like some of the druid domains that grant familiars (Monkey in particular, mostly for the flavor of it.) Those rare full BAB classes that get familiars (Buccaneer gunslinger for example) are also interesting, though I'm not sure how much benefit they can really get from it. Of course, with Eldritch Heritage, any class could get a familiar.
So, what ideas do you have? Again, I'd prefer not to use improved familiar, just the basic ones.
Quick summary:
Half-Orc, Cleric of Gorum, LV 9, CN
Weapon: +1 Spellstoring, Conductive greatsword.
Domains: Tactics and Protean (Tactics gives me free combat feats.
Playstyle: Battle Cleric. Some precombat buffs. First round selfbuff or groupbuff, then attack! Postcombat healing.
Feats:
1. Endurance (Half-Orc alt racial trait bonus), Diehard
3. Power Attack.
5. Craft Magic Arms and Armor
7. Improved Initiative
9. ???
Combat Casting? Combat Reflexes? Toughness? Something else? I can get any combat feat as a swift action for a number of rounds/day equal to my level via Tactics domain.
Your wisdom is appreciated. My first session is tomorrow.
I'm still working on my battle cleric. I had thought I had a good choice of domains. Paring down choices is hard.
My god is Gorum. I have access to Chaos (not interested), Destruction, Glory, Strength, and War. Subdomains Rage (not interested; I have a barbarian in my other game and I don't want play the same character), Ferocity, Resolve, Blood, and Tactics. There's also Protean but it isn't particularly interesting (the 8th level power is neat, the spells aren't).
I love Tactics. It's a great domain with decent spells.
My first choice was Glory, because those Paladins spells (especially Holy Sword) are amazing.
Problem: This is greatly complicated by the fact that there's a CE Synthesist summoner in the party and if I have a Magic Circle vs Evil up when I have my sword out, the Demons she'll be summoning at that level won't be able to approach.
The domain power is very handy to protect the TWO wizards who are very squishy. (This power being the Aura that acts like a Sanctuary.)
Pros: Wicked self buffs and a handy power that lets you use them.
Cons: Some of the spells potentially neutralize a party member.
My next choice would be Destruction. I love that ability to add half my level to all damage rolls, and auto confirm criticals. Whee! Walk around with a keen Falchion and go to town.
Problem: While the Summoner would work well with this power, the wizards won't. I'd be taking everyone's character's life into my hands by using it. It would work AMAZINGLY with extra characters like the demons that eventually will be summoned all the time.
Also, while Disintigrate is a cool spell, my character's max stat is Strength and Dex is one of my worst, so hitting with a ray is not a guarantee, and then the saving throw is not my strong point either.
Pros: Party's damage output is increased by a lot, especially at later levels.
Cons: The party's squishies are at greater risk of instant death. The spells don't use my stats to their best.
Ferocity and Tactics could work well together. I would get both Divine Power and Righteous Might as domain spells so I can prepare more niche spells in other slots. Somehow it feels also I'm losing out relative to the other domains.
Pros: No character is completely invalidated. I get two spells I will use a lot. Everything's nice and decent.
Cons: The 8th level Strength domain power is meager. My level of badass feels reduced.
Thank you for your help and pep talks. I've never played a full spellcaster before and it's a little overwhelming. I really just want to hit things.
My last character died. Making a replacement. A cleric of course.
Anything better than a +3 greatsword? I was thinking a +1 flaming, spellstoring greatsword would be neat. I can then cast greater magic weapon on it if I have an appropriate spell slot free for the day.
Ideally I'd like to be able to craft the thing myself, given that I have the magic arms and armor crafting feat.
Any advice?
The cleric is 9th level, half orc Cleric of Gorum, domains of Glory and Tactics (sub of war). Channels positive.
If I attack a fear affected creature and connect, the Shatter Defenses feat renders them flat-footed to my attacks until the end of my next turn. Does this mean that I could cast and attack with a touch spell (say inflict moderate wounds) without provoking attacks of opportunity and needing to cast defensively?
For example, 9th level inquisitor with the Anger inquistion can rage. She has a +1 Furious, Courageous Greatsword. She casts Greater Magic Weapon on it at the start of the day. The first sign of trouble things go like this...
Round 1. Identify creature, pass Judgment. Cast Wrath (or similar buff spell: +1 morale bonus to attack and damage per 3 levels)
Round 2. Swift action to activate Bane (increasing enhancement by 2 vs that creature type), then Rage (increasing enhancement by 2), then charge.
The enhancement bonus is suddenly +6? And you apply +3 to your other morale bonuses? Or perhaps because the Bane property only apply when attacking that creature, you only get a +2 boost to static morale bonuses until you are actually attacking that creature, at which point it treats them at +3. Huh?
So the massive party wipe that should have crushed the entire group instead only crushed one character. Mine.
Thanks to some interesting deaths and rotations, the party composition is a Wizard (universalist, lots of blasty), a different kind of wizard (the kind with the gun, lots of blasty), a Summoner (the power ranger kind, absolutely busted), and my poor fighter who is now very dead. (VERY dead, 170 hp while in a defensive stance and died on a critical hit from a Huge oathbow while using Diehard at -8hp. So badass!)
Anyway, considering the party lacks much by way of healing, I'm hoping to play a class that can do so. I'm not very keen on spells; I much prefer getting in there and swinging.
The Inquisitor fills a lot of gaps in the party with skill ranks, healing, and support with some crazy Swift abilities to increase damage. Despite the fact we have two wizards in the party, one wizard used most of his skills on crafting and silly things like profession, and the other one has knowledges and stuff but mostly INT based and not CHA based.
Theme idea 1: A half-orc woodcutter/huntsman type of Gozreh with a nice big greataxe that he can of course make bane anything. Animal domain most likely to use teamwork feats all the better. Could be based on either Paul Bunyan and get an Aurochs or take a Velociraptor/Dinonichus and play the hunter that says, "Clever girl."
Theme idea 2: God of War worshiper. Take one of his many crazy excellent domains and go to town with a greatsword.
Theme idea 3: Pick any god and be mostly a face. For example, I could go Gorum as above for the weapon and take one of the inquisitions that makes my Wisdom my defacto charisma and try to build a few churches for the god of war (IE, garrisons awaiting war.) I had tried something like this before but the game fell through.
The cleric has more spells but FAR fewer skills. I like how the combat spells like divine power and righteous might come front loaded as opposed to the Inquisitor.
Theme: Crusader of Gorum. Take the Weapon Focus and Specialization feat chain with heavy armor and use fear spells combined with Shatter Defenses to great effect. Well, that's the build really moreso than the theme. Theme would be more like a god of war worshiper who's keen to see more war as above.
Note: Paladin is off the menu. The summoner is CE and I'd rather not put up with the roleplay strain.
Note 2: Hardbooks only please.
TL;DR - Party needs a healer who's good with skills and I like hitting things in combat. Trying to find the best of both worlds with a good roleplay quotient.
I have questions about the effectiveness of the disruptive associated feats. It seems like there's lots associated with being effectively disruptive. At minimum you'll need Step Up and Disruptive. You can go from there to Spellbreaker and Teleport Tactician, which also requires Combat Reflexes. Getting a caster down to nice and low HP only to have them *poof* and return with greater preparation is frustrating.
Then there's the whole getting to the caster in the first place. Fighters with low will saves had better have Iron Will and perhaps even its Improved version or they're going to be using their disruptive feats on the rest of the party.
I happen to be looking at the Orc at the moment. The Orc has a feat called Orc Weapon Expertise which has several iterations. One of which gives a +3 bonus a la disruptive which I assume stacks as they give no bonus type. The only weapon I'd be allowed to use that with would be the Orc Double Axe, which means Two Weapon Fighting. (This feat is the whole reason I've been looking into the whole disruptive thing.)
So, questions:
Is being disruptive a viable tactic? Is there anything I've missed? Does it work/not work with two-weapon fighting? Does a +7 disruptive bonus make it any more appealing? (assuming it stacks)
Would being Disruptive be one of those feats that would best be retrained at higher levels?
Or should I just leave casters up to the casters in the party.
If my barbarian has a +1 Furious Greatclub and my cleric friend puts a +2 greater magic weapon spell on it, what will the enhancement bonus be while I rage? +3, +4 or other?
Evil isn't exactly my shtick, nor is magic. It seems to me that if there's benefit to be had by going Evil with a capital E, it's for casters. Strictly martial types don't get all that much of the goods of being bad.
I could play an Antipaladin I suppose, but that's a caster. I'd rather stay strictly nonmagical if I can.
I have a barbarian going already or I could've done the Demon totem. That'd be neat.
Then again, perhaps I could get the benefit of one of the more martial evil races. Duergar fighter? Hobgoblin Cavalier? Goblin Gunslinger?
I'll take any ideas, really, although I prefer the hardbooks because I'll always have those on hand. If it's from a softbook please state the source.
Under normal circumstances, I'd not choose to play a cleric. I prefer the hit them and then... hit them again classes. Now that I've read the Crusader archetype, I think maybe they're not all that bad.
Spoiler:
CG Crusader of Gorum Half-Orc
Str 19 (16+2, ABI)
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 8
Wis 19 (ABIx4)
Cha 10
20 pt buy
Traits: Reactionary (+2 Init), Bully (+1 Intimidate, class skill)
Single Domain: Glory, -1 spell per level
Channel positive energy, spontaneously casts cure spells
Skills: Lots of Intimidate and enough Spellcraft to craft. Smatterings of other good stuff, like perception and necessary knowledges.
Strategy: Cast a weapon buff or a self buff or two and go to town. By the time 15th level hits, I can have a fear effect on myself and anyone I hit gets flat-footed, able to be Deadly Struck on my next attack. before that point, use the domain 1st and 8th level abilities and dazzling display to make everyone shaken, and then start combat when my side is ready.
The party's cleric left (as in has to work nights now) so I'm going to be picking up the slack. I CAN heal, but that's not my main job. My main job is to be scary and hit things hard.
What do you think? Have I missed anything obvious? Any suggestions for the blank feats?
I am not very good at doing even basic addition in a swift manner. I also happen to like playing the combat types where little +1's and +2's float around all over the place. Now I'm about to play a two-weapon user with an animal companion... oy.
For those else of you who get held up in combat due to the numbers, what strategies have you come up with to speed things up? For any GM's, how do you deal with number-impaired players?
Question 1: Can you have more than one Challenge up at once? Example: I challenge big bad guy and and then next round challenge big bad guy's crony.
Question 2: The Honor Guard has a Sworn Defense ability that allows him/her to pick an ally when challenging. As long as he/she's next to that ally he takes a -1 penalty to AC and gives it to the ally. Does this stack if there are more than one opponent challenged? Can I choose more than one Sworn Defense?
The Gnome has access to either Produce Flame or Chill Touch via alternate racial traits, which grant melee touch attacks. The Challenge ability amplifies damage with melee attacks. Does the challenge amplify the damage on these attacks?
A few more niche questions...
1. Can you make a melee touch attack with either of these spells on a charge? If yes, does any of it get doubled on a Spirited Charge? (I assume not for Spirited Charge as the feat requires a weapon.)
2. Does the strength damage from Chill Touch get amplified on a challenge? (Assuming the challenge works with it and the save is failed.)
3. Can the ranged touch ability of Produce Flame be used in conjunction with Far Challenging as with a Luring Cavalier, the range in crease of Careful Aim?
4. Considering the ranged ability of Produce Flame treats it as a thrown weapon, can you make more than one attack in a round if your BAB is high enough?
And beyond just the Gnome SLAs, would a Spell Storing weapon used with a challenging cavalier allow any damage increases on spell damage?
Order of the Wind cavaliers are travelers that rarely settle in one place for any great length of time. A few times a year they meet up and share stories of their exploits and deeds.
Edicts: An order of the wind cavalier cannot own land. He must strive to see new sights and explore new horizons. Any place an order of the wind cavalier visits must be changed in some way, small or large or for good or ill, before the cavalier passes through.
Challenge: While threatening the target of his challenge, any morale or competence bonuses affecting the Cavalier are increased by +1. This bonus increases by 1 for every four levels the cavalier possesses.
Skills: Knowledge (local), Knowledge (geography), and Survival are class skills for the order of the wind Cavalier. In addition, the Cavalier gets a bonus on Linguistics checks equal to half his cavalier level when attempting to communicate with locals.
Training Abroad: At 2nd level, choose a martial or exotic weapon. The cavalier gains proficiency with that weapon if he did not have it before. His cavalier levels count as fighter levels for the purpose of selecting feats with that weapon (such as Weapon Specialization). If that weapon is a two-handed weapon, the cavalier can wield it while mounted in one hand and it deals double damage on a mounted charge as with a lance.
Campfire Tales: At 8th level, the cavalier may regale his companions with stories of past exploits that in some way inspire them for the next day. The cavalier or any ally who hears these stories and then has restful sleep may do any of the following during the next day: roll twice for a saving throw and choose the better result; get a +4 insight bonus to one attack roll made to hit while charging; or get a +4 dodge bonus to AC against attacks of opportunity. Each of these abilities may only be used once until more stories are told. They must be declared as being used before the roll is made and do not require an action to use.
Fast Friends: At 15th level, the cavalier is so well traveled as to find friends in unlikely places. Once per day, the cavalier may befriend any individual who shares a language with the cavalier after talking to that character for at least a minute. Treat this as though it were the subject of a charm monster spell but without a saving throw if the conditions are met.
I'm hoping to make others too. This is my first attempt at this. I hope it's not overpowered. I'm not sure if the edicts are good enough. That sort of thing is harder to do than the crunch.
The evangelist is unique among Clerics in that it trades out Channel increases for bardic performance. For multiclassing with things such as Holy Vindicator or Order of the Star Cavalier, I have a few questions...
1. Do you need any channel dice in order to have the effective level work? That is, if I have one level of Cleric and four levels of OOS Cavalier, do I channel 1d6 or none at all?
2. Does this have any effect on the bardic performance like abilities?
I'm working on a Holy Avenger build that will probably end up with 11 to 13 caster levels. I'm focusing on -Channelling and don't really have that much experience with spells. How important are caster levels and is there anything I need to pay attention to so I don't completely nerf my guy?
I've been trying to make a scary Gnome that is also combat effective. It requires the Taunt feat of course, but everything else is up in the air. (Martial character as a matter of course.)
I've been looking at the Order of the Cockatrice since they get Dazzling Display for free. Beast Rider for dinosaur mounts (Allosaurus to start and Dinonychus to follow up.) Maybe even Eldrich Heritage: Serpentine to get a toxic bite and the ability to talk to my mount. There's also the Haunted Gnome chain which I've tried to use before. Hit on a charge and they're shaken! (For only one round???)
These aren't exactly combat feats, of course. Other than the standard Power Attack, anything else I should consider? Other classes (preferably martial/full BAB) that are good at being scary? I want a crazy gnome that will make people quake in their boots at the mention of his name, and the force to back it up.
Perhaps a fighter with Dazzling Display and a hooked hammer?
Maybe a scary barbarian Gnome? Would that even work?
I'm not fond of playing spellcasters (which is tricky as I love gnomes and spellcasting is what they do best), and I'm only allowed hardcovers.
Building a character with either full Holy Vindicator levels and a full Cav mount (with the Horse Master feat) or some combination thereof. What domains and/or cleric archetypes are fine if they don't progress?
The idea is a support combatant, ideally not lawful and not evil and channeling positive energy. Most likely Gnome riding a Wolf (for CON bonus and SLA/Speak with Animals). Order of the Star. Cleric of ???
I really enjoy the Cavalier class. My group tends to talk them down. Any of you have or play a Cavalier in your party? Are there any interesting tricks, either for damage or RP or whatever, that the class is capable of? Also, Medium character or Small character?
Making a Luring Cavalier archer (possibly also Emissary as GM says they stack) and wondering which Order would be best to take? I'm going to be small sized so I get a bonus to CHA. I was looking at the following...
Order of the Star: Lots of CHA based bonuses and both of them could forseeably be used on ranged shots. The order capstone is very impressive. Moreso with melee weapons (even with snap shot, my Challenge bonus won't apply). The critical ability of the Luring cavalier makes this look like a good one.
Order of the Sword: Also good. CHA doesn't get used until the capstone, but once it does it's very impressive. I'd probably take Ride-By attack as the 8th level bonus feat. The 8th level power isn't blank, but it's lackluster as my stats won't be nearly as good for charging as for arrows.
Order of the Cockatrice (Jerk): Dazzling display definitely favours a high charisma. The 8th level ability requires the full snap-shot chain and some tricky positioning. The capstone makes for one really impressive round once per day.
Keeping in mind that the order's Challenge bonus only applies after I've been hit once in combat. Until then it's replaced by the option to spend a use of the Challenge to double the level damage on one attack per day. (A deadly thing to do with Manyshot.)
I'm open to other suggestions as well.
Mandatory Feats: PBS, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Many Shot, Deadly Aim.
I can then either go down the road of the Snap Shot chain or perhaps even switch-hit to charging attacks.
Thanks for your help! If it isn't hardcover, please tell me where to find it.
TL;DR: This is a two part post. The first part is about Paladin blending with Cavalier. The second part is about adding cleric levels to cav levels. All use Order of the Star. If you only want to help with one or the other, thank you! If you help with both, extra thank you!
Part 1
I can't overstate how much I love the Cavalier. It's such a cool class. It's fighting on horseback, which is everything I want out of fantasy.
It is also very similar to a paladin. I'm not averse to playing a paladin, but I prefer the broader scope of the Cavalier's challenge to the Smite of the Paladin...
Anywho, in looking at the Order of the Star, it strikes me that the two are not as exclusive as they would seem. I could blend the Paladin and the Cavalier over the course of 20 levels and produce some interesting results. 15 Cav/Order of the Star and 5 Shining Knight Paladin yields: Lay on hands 6d6, add CHA to saves of Mount, 2 Smite/day, 4 Challenge/day, full mount with summon 1/day. Minor spellcasting of first level paladin spells. +15 to damage on challenges to nonevil foes, and +20 to evil foes with the addition to the CHA mod on attack rolls, moral bonuses to saves while facing down the challenge target, and anyone that strikes me or an ally with the same faith provokes an AOO. Also, a few times per day I can get my CHA mod AGAIN on all my attack rolls.
That's a lovely end result... however.
In what order should the levels be taken? At BAB 10, you can take the Coordinated Charge teamwork feat, assuming you also have another teamwork feat. This probably means going the Strategist archetype to take an additional TWK feat that isn't useless. So there at least needs to be 1 PAL level before CAV level 9.
If you feel like helping me cook this up, thanks very kindly. There's no guarantee I'll be able to use it soon, because there's no guarantee the next session will have Paladin playability.
Part 2
Furthermore... you aren't restricted to LG alignment. You can take first level of a cleric of any deity and gain minor channeling through your career. This is what I'll probably end up doing if I can't take Paladin. To that end...
What god provides the best set of first level domains that never progress? I would prefer if it was channel positive so I don't have to go out of my way with feats to select around my mount. I would prefer not to hurt my BAB too much and I don't think there's much use for low level spells at high levels. It doesn't blend as well as Paladin, but in this case I could be a Chaotic Good "Paladin" of sorts. What are your recommendations in this case?
Thanks kindly!
Edit: The books I am allowed are hardcovers only: Core, APG, UM, UC, UE, ARG. I see no reason why discussion cannot carry further from these books so long as both with and without are discussed. Thank you!
At 2nd level, the cavalier can make a short prayer as a standard action, filling him with confidence in his abilities. At any point in the next minute, he can receive a competence bonus on an ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check equal to his Charisma modifier. He must declare that he is using this bonus before the roll is made. He can use this ability up to four times per day, once for each type of check or roll. In addition, the cavalier adds 1/2 his cavalier level to any levels of paladin or cleric he might possess for the purposes of determining the effects of channel energy or lay on hands.
A few questions to clear my confusion.
So you add half your Cavalier level to your effective Cleric or Paladin level. Does this determine uses per day as well as number of dice or just one or the other?
If I have, say, 12 levels of Cavalier, 2 levels of Paladin, and 1 level of cleric, to what degree can I channel/lay on hands? What if I just have 4 levels of Paladin to get the channel ability (and the 12 Cavalier.) What if I can channel both as a Cleric and as a Paladin?
Also, if I take the Mount Divine Bond ability as a paladin, to my Paladin levels tack for my Cavalier mount? If yes, do I get Share Spells or Light Armor Prof? Do I get to summon my mount?
Aside from the bonuses mentioned in the feat, does Monkey Shine allow for flanking bonuses while occupying a foe's square? Does this change if they are larger than you (that is, can you flank a square within an opponents square)?
So, I've been loking at whips and their assciated feats. Whip mastery appears to be the only one that's mandatory. The progression also looks slated for a 3/4 bab class like the bard (as they are proficient.)
The keen thing is the whole 15' reach business. I could see going several directions with a fighters feats on a whip. I'd use a half orc for the racial proficiency, but what then?
TWF: Taking a -4 to attack is steep, but that reach! Get two shocking whips and you're an irn man villain.
Whirlwind attack: Steep feat tax, but hitting everone within 15 feet of you makes you ground zero of a walking fireball.. This assumes damage feats like weapn spec and power attack.
Greater trip: Aoo's for all! I have recently made a tripping build with nobody to take the aoos, so this seems lackluster to me.
Whip mastery chain: Is this any good?
Other or any combo thereof: Fighters get lots of feats for a reason.
Any advice or suggestions? Preferably hardcovers only. If it isn't hardcover let me know before I get my hopes up.
I'm trying to make a really, really gross monk. He's a dwarf Drunken Master at the core of his build (hardcovers only). I'm really looking to make him absolutely disgusting to be around to play up his 6 CHA.
I suppose anything other than altering the race and the Drunken monk is up for review. (Hardcovers only.)
Here's a few things I've come up with...
Dragon Style: With the Roaring capstone with an acid based Elemental Fist, he can belch or vomit over his enemies.
Throw Anything: Perfectly emulate the behaviour of aggressive male chimps. I hope I don't have to draw you a picture here. Also involves kilt lifting. Add monkey style in this case for the theme.
Qinggong Powers:
Hydraulic Torrent: Lift kilt to push back your foes with a forceful stream of slightly used alcoholic beverages.
Dragon's Breath: See Dragon Style.
Scorching Ray: Perhaps it would be too far to skin this as combustible flatulence. Could also apply to Dragon's Breath.
These are just a few ideas. If you have any more I'd like to hear them. Bonus points if you can skin the same thing in different ways to prevent RP redundancy.
I'd like for them to be good abilities, but lets have flavor trump function for now and let the good (bad?) ideas froth to the top.
Say I have a Monk (probably a dwarf) who takes the master craftsman feat in order to get Craft Wondrous Item. What would be a good profession or craft to take ranks in to get the neater items? Weaving for bodywraps? Jeweler for amulet of mighty fists?
Any monk specific items that require a monk to make them that I should look at?
This is something of a thought experiment, though I may use it eventually.
I'd like to see a character use a Whip with something like Great Cleave or Whirlwind attack to really spread the damage around large hordes. Here's a few builds to that effect, although I'd love another take on it.
Whirlwhip :
Half-Orc Fighter 10
Stat requirements DEX 13, INT 13, STR lots
Replace Orc Ferocity with the ability that grants whip proficiency
This build focuses on getting a little bit of damage to everyone within your range. A 15' reach makes you something short of a walking fireball. If damage isn't your shtick, you can replace the damage increasing feats with things that allow more AOOs, such as Improved and Greater Trip.
While you can hit everyone in an area, you might not be doing as much damage as you'd like to single opponents. You're more of a walking decent level fireball every turn than an actual fighter. If you use the AOO version, you had better be paired with a allies ready to take them. Unless you take more of the Whip Mastery chain, you won't get the AOOs yourself.
Any decent fighter archetype could be used. Even an unarchetyped version gets you proper armor training. For bonus points, get your full plate glamoured and take ranks in perform (Sing) and throat sing at everyone while you whittle them down.
Cleaving Lash :
This next build combines it with Sneak dice. It gets a little tricky. I don't think it's all that feasable. But I already typed it out, so here it is...
Half-Orc Fighter 5/Rogue 4 (Skulking Slayer)
Stat Requirements: STR lots, INT 13
This version is far more finicky in what you can pull off, working with requirements like Sneak Attack AND Cleave requiring adjacent opponents, you still get plenty of attacks as a standard action provided you keep on hitting. Your second hit on a cleave is always a sneak attack After Surprise Follow Through. At 9th every cleave after the first gets to sneak, whether or not you yourself are sneaky.
There are a few placeholders here. The skeleton is really just the combination of cleaving whips with sneak.
Someone more well versed in Rogue than I can attempt a purer rogue build for the greater number of sneak dice. Matching the feats to the corresponding BAB make things tricky.
In this version, you have to wait until 11th level. Could you make it any better?
Total Feats Required:
Weapon Focus (Whip)(BAB1), Whip Mastery (BAB2)(unless you are OK to provoke AOOs), Power Attack (BAB1), Cleave, Great Cleave(BAB4), Surprise Follow through (BAB1), and Improved Surprise Follow Through(BAB8).
You don't need to replace Orc Ferocity here, since you have whip proficiency from the Rogue archetype.
Of the two, I vastly prefer the former. The requirements for the Rogue builds to work are pretty narrow. The latter, however, has the abstract potential to reallllly whip people.
When sundering a magic item, it has 10 extra hp and +2 hardness for each +1 enhancement bonus on the item.
Would a bonus such as flaming or keen count as a +1 enhancement bonus to grant the extra HP and hardness?
Would an additional but temporary enhancement bonus as granted by a Furious weapon while raging add extra HP and hardness?
Also, say I have a raging barbarian with Greater Sunder who has sundered a caster's weapon and destroyed it. Extra damage then goes through to the caster. Would this damage be augmented by the Witch Hunter rage power? Would the damage to the weapon be augmented by this power if damage did not go through?
And further, for the Spell Sundering rage power, how does a raging character who can't make intelligence or knowledge checks know which magical effects to sunder? In the case of multiple magical effects and if there is a generic roll, which gets sundered first? (Assuming there is a first and not some other answer I hadn't yet considered.)
Potentially looking to build a Breaker barbarian to specializing in Sundering (obviously). Is Greater Sunder worthwhile as a feat? Carrying damage over seems like it would be good if at all possible. Are the things you're breaking worth destroying in order to carry the damage to the wielder/wearer?
If anyone has used Greater Sunder ever, I'd love to hear about it, GMs included. (I'm restricted to the hardcovers, but it doesn't mean you are in your storytelling.) A big question is: does the rest of the party hate you? Does anything sunderable appear at higher levels?
I'm hesitant to take both spell sunder and greater sunder as both really don't play well with others (not only do I become harder to buff and heal, I make the treasure harder to claim.)
Hello, I'm looking to use the Moonlight Stalker feat (probably a free hand fighter/duelist build). Of course, this is fairly contingent on reliable access to concealment. Out of Ultimate Equipment I can find Mistmail (p127), Robe of Scintilating Colors (p218), and Haunted Shoes (p231). Mistmail grants it 1/day. Scintilating Colors for 10 rounds/day (getting better with each round spent), and the shoes 1/day for three minutes.
Outside of Wand UMD's (which I may take, or just ask the spellcasters to give me some foggy cover) are there any other reliable methods of concealment? Note it should be proper concealment and not miss chance.
(I was looking at Haunted Gnome Shroud, but those two feats before it are particularly underwhelming. I may still go with it as it would be fun to RP, but painful in the feat loss.)
I should specify that this will be a full BAB character and as such no spell list.
At 17th level, a Foehammer gets the ability to treat feats applying to specific weapons in the hammer group to all weapons in that group. Will this allow Weapon Focus/Specialization feats to stack? For example, one chain set focused on the Warhammer, the other focused on the Light Hammer.
Also, does the Hammer to the Ground ability provoke an AOO without Improved Trip?
The Cad Fighter archetype gets its bonus to attack and damage after having been on the receiving end of an attack. Aside from the obvious natural and weapon attacks, what counts as an attack?
Would a trip attempt or other combat maneuver count as an attack?
If I have the opponent in question grappled, would their attempts to break free (using CMB) or become the controlling grappler count as attacks?
Would a spell aimed at me count as an attack and would that be different if it was an area effect vs a ray of some sort?
If I provoke an attack of opportunity during my turn and have not been hit otherwise, would that count?
I'm working on building a Storm Druid hoping to focus on battlefield control and debuff with a taste of blasting.
The domains I think I'll choose would be Winds and Storms (subdomains of Air and Weather respectively.) Reason being they have as little overlap as possible between domain spells. Question is, which domain do I take first? Winds starts me off with a bull rush wind blast and a communication spell. Storms starts me off with a debuff and a hiding spell. At 9th, I get the full compliment of spells and abilities quite suddenly.
Also, if I were to take the Eldrich Heritage line, which bloodline should I focus on? I was thinking Stormborn, since I like the electricity themed first level power. Any other feat recommendations? Also, would there be a way to cast spells while in Gaseous Form?
Say a Gunslinger scores a critical threat on a Dead Shot at 7th level and both "attacks" hit (only one threat). You confirm the critical once (at a -5 penalty). Assuming a basic pistol, do you roll 5d8 or 8d8 for damage? (Or even some other permutation I'm not seeing.)
I happened to read Garth Nix's Abhorsen series at about the same time I got Ultimate Magic. The Dirge Bard is tailor made for an Abhorsen. If you're keen to read them I may accidentally spoil things. If you've already read 'em, all the better!
What is an Abhorsen?:
What is an Abhorsen? In short, a good necromancer with bells that guides the dead to rest rather than raise them for personal benefit.
He (or she, it's an inherited title) has a bandoleer of bells, each with a name and a property. He also has a special sword and a white cat that is a very powerful entity conscripted to assist the Abhorsen.
The ability to affect the undead with mind-effects is very key to the structure of the class, so enchantment spells have a broader base.
So, to that end, I'd like to build an Abhorsen as true to the books as possible.
The bells:
Ranna, the Sleeper: Bards can do sleep spells, no trouble.
Mosrael, the Waker: Brings the dead back to life at the cost of the ringer's own life. The 10th level bardic performance suits here.
Kibeth, the Walker: Controls others (esp. undead) to make them walk where you wish. I think suggestion/dominate effects work here.
Dyrim, the Speaker: Lets things that are mute speak. Best I can think of is Speak with Dead and Magic Mouth. Speak with Dead isn't a bard spell, but thanks to the Witch class it IS an arcane spell, so I can pick it up at tenth level.
Belgear, the Thinker: Lets you rewrite memories. Memory Lapse is a bard spell. I think there's another spell later that lets you do more memory based jiggery-pokery. Not sure if it's for bards.
Saraneth, the Binder: Binds the listener to the ringer's will. Stronger than Suggestion, very similar to Kibeth. Geas/quest?
Astarael, the Weeper: Kills all who hear it, dead or undead. I don't know how to replicate this one.
Basic Build
Likely won't be point buy should I ever end up using it. Dice roll is common, to that end.
Human
Str: Mid-high
Dex: High
Con: Medium.
Int: Skill points are good, but not completely necessary.
Wis: Not sure. Fearlessness is a mark of an Abhorsen. It would be true to character but not absolutely necessary.
Cha: High. Lots of these spells are save/suck, and so require high save DC's.
Some feats for sure:
Skill Focus (Kn. Religion), Eldritch Heritage (Arcane bloodline)
This gets either a white cat familiar or the sword bonded item.
Skills:
The mandatory ones, a smattering of Knowledges, and Perform: Percussion (for the bells). Heal is probably another good one to take.
Spells:
Overall, I'm not that good at spells. I usually play get in close and hit them or stand back and shoot at them type guys with no magic whatever. My only other caster was a summoner. Advice on this point would be most welcome. Only caveat would be strictly no evil spells.
Roleplay: Self-sacrificing, hard working, and fearless. Good alignment, certainly. I wouldn't exactly be playing Abhorsens from the book, but from anywhere along the line.
If you aren't familiar with the Abhorsen, I do recommend the books. They're quite good and rich with character. I swear they inspired this archetype, but can't be too sure.
In the Advance Race Guide, the Gnome has access to two phantom object spells. They are identical to the creation spells, with the benefit(?) that they aren't real. If anyone fails their will save, the object ceases to be.
How would you go about using this?
The only thing I could think of off-hand would be to conjure up a ladder to climb only to tell the next person up, "Incidentally, the ladder you're climbing isn't real."
Something to that effect, and I'm not entirely sure that would work. Any other ideas?
